LAUDER Primary School has received a packet of rocket seeds sent back to Earth from UK astronaut Tim Peake's international space mission. 

Primary 5 pupils are growing the rocket as part of a UK-wide experiment to see whether seeds which have travelled into space grow as well as seeds which have remained on Earth.

The Rocket Science project has been organised by the UK Space Agency and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Campaign for School Gardening. It aims to enthuse young people about space and gardening and could help scientists understand more about our ability to grow food in orbit.

“We have been studying Space since January” said Susanne Douglas, P5 teacher at Lauder Primary, “and the pupils have been learning about space conditions which might affect the seeds’ ability to germinate, such as temperature and gravity”.

A million seeds were sent into space aboard the Soyuz 44S rocket in September and were in Tim Peake's care on the International Space Station for six months.

They were returned to Earth in March and distributed, along with seeds which had not been in orbit, to thousands of UK primary schools taking part in the experiment.

Ben Risbey, who is 10, told us: "We have been sent a red packet of seeds and a blue packet of seeds but we don't know which packet has been in space. We water the plants and measure them each day."

Over a period of 35 days, the pupils will monitor the height, colour and leaf development of both sets of seedlings. They will record the findings on a chart and then send their results to be analysed by professional statisticians and scientists from the RHS and UK and European Space Agencies.

Alex Risbey, who is also 10, added: "It will be interesting to see if there are any differences between the space seeds and the Earth seeds.

"If humans ever need to go to other planets we will know more about whether we can grow food there."

Astronaut Peake sent a special video message from the International Space Station to UK schools embarking on the study.

He said: “I’d like to wish everyone taking part the best of luck with their investigations and I look forward to seeing some of the results.

"It’s possible that among those pupils taking part in the project are the young people who will help mankind reach the next big milestones in space exploration."

The RHS, which supports a number of other projects in the Scottish Borders, including Muddy Buddies for adults with learning disabilities in Galashiels, has hailed the project a success, calling it an ‘out of this world project’.

Rocket Science is now among the biggest mass science experiments conducted in UK schools.

Pupils across the UK will only find out which seeds have been into space when all the results have been recorded, collected and published.

Tim will then reveal the true identity of the space seeds and results of the experiment will be made available on the RHS and UK Space Agency websites.